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That man was my hero. If I achieve a fraction of what he accomplished in his life, I will be incredibly proud. Against all odds, he lived a full and amazing li

That man was my hero. If I achieve a fraction of what he accomplished in his life, I will be incredibly proud. Against all odds, he lived a full and amazing life. It somehow feels even more painful to lose a man who cheated death. It just gives you that feeling that they can somehow live forever, until the moment when the illusion is shattered. And underneath it all is that unshakable feeling. Memento mori. Slowly my childhood heroes will drift away until there's none left. Then it will be my turn to drift away. I miss him already. The world is always going to be a little sadder without him. Though, maybe I can still make it to his party. A RECEPTION FOR TIME TRAVELLERS Hosted by PROFESSOR STEPHEN HAWKING To be held in the past, at THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Gonville & Caius College, Trinity Street, Cambridge Location: 52˚ 12' 21" N, 0˚ 7' 4.7" E 12:00 UT 28 JUNE 2009 NO RSVP REQUIRED

TaylorAlexander 9y ago
It was both Professor Hawking and Carl Sagan that tought me how brief and unlikely our lives truly are. It was their cosmic perspective that helped me end my fear of death. While we want more time and see the death of others as tragic, I do feel less afraid of that time coming knowing how fortunate I have been to live.
- jsolson 9y ago
  Interesting. I would like to attribute my desire to live "forever", at least to some extent, to cosmic perspective. One day the universe might make me bored, but today is not that day, and I suspect tomorrow isn't either. I don't ever expect that day to come, but if I thought it was near I'd be very afraid indeed.
  - fhayde 9y ago
    I think a good way to say it might be: I'm not afraid of death, I'm afraid of not existing.
    - jsolson 9y ago
      Yes, but given today's technology (and my lack of faith in a suitable deity), I do not have confidence in continuity after corporeal death.
    - mikekchar 9y ago
      I do not fear non-existence. For most of the history of the universe, I did not exist. I have considerable experience with that. Dying appears to be unpleasant, though.
      - unclebucknasty 9y ago
        Well, you existed. You just were not assembled in quite the same manner.
        deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
        lozf 9y ago
        Like Lego; you build something and play a while... then all the pieces go back in the box 'til next time.
      - latexr 9y ago
        In the context of your existing self, non-existing before and after existing are quite different thoughts. The first one is like you don’t remember it, like you don’t remember a lot in your life that you know happened. With the second one you’ll never have the experience of feeling you don’t remember it and you know that. It’s akin to the difference between one day you realising you forgot most of your life, and you now discovering you have Alzheimer’s and will never again hold a moment in memory. To your present self the former is not scary, but the latter is. > For most of the history of the universe, I did not exist. I have considerable experience with that. On the contrary, you have zero experience with not existing because experience implies an impression was made, even if you don’t consciously realise it. Not existing has made (and will make) no difference to you whatsoever, and as such provides no experience, preparation, or comfort. It is the thought of not existing that makes a difference. It won’t by the time I don’t exist, but it does now. --- As a side note, if someone can recommend some good philosophy books on this, I’d appreciate it. I thought the branch that studies it might’ve been ontology, but I’ve read a bit of Sartre’s Being and Nothingness and realised what he’s talking about it not exactly what I’m looking for.
  - simonh 9y ago
    I would like to live indefinitely, but I do not want to. The cost to human society and our natural resources of a species of immortals is too much. I want human society to include births, children, growing up, dating, marriage and raising families. I want my children and our species generally to have a dynamic, continuously renewing culture. I just don’t see how those things are compatible with immortality. Just don’t see how I can weigh personal immortality against the lives of perhaps millions of people that could live in my place, choose myself over them and maintain any sort of moral credibility.
    - whatshisface 9y ago
      If you're immortal, then the "climb on a starship for 1000 years" deal starts looking a lot better. That would open up a lot of new resources to turn in to living people with lives to experience. (P.S. we're not anywhere near close to using our current resources completely or efficiently, so please stick around and help us get a little closer!)
      - jcadam 9y ago
        Your starship would have to be something similar to Rama[1] for me to even consider it. A thousand years on anything similar to an upscaled contemporary spacecraft sounds like torture. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendezvous_with_Rama https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendezvous_with_Rama
        justinclift 9y ago
        Well, there's the "suspended animation" possibility thing too. eg "Wake me up when we get there, or if anything interesting/important comes up on the way."
    - latexr 9y ago
      None of that precludes the case in which you’re the one immortal in existence, and you are immortal by chance and not choice[1]. And you could live in a way that has zero impact on the natural resources of the planet[2], or even a positive one. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_from_Earth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_from_Earth [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Impact_Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Impact_Man
  - herbstein 9y ago
    Very well said. Really like the way you framed it.
  - eloff 9y ago
    Right now the only thing that somewhat limits the accumulation of wealth by the wealthiest in our society is that they eventually die. Even if they pass it on to their offspring, those offspring are often ill-equipped to run their parent's business empire. Eventually the dynastic wealth fades away and others can take their place. If people could live forever there would be no limits on how much wealth individuals could concentrate in their hands. It would be like the meths in Altered Carbon. I don't want to live in a world where Jeff Bezos possesses more wealth than the bottom 90% of the planet. Our laws and economic system currently lead to extreme inequality. That would have to seriously change to allow for immortality.
    - Omnus 9y ago
      Sure, but you have to balance the potential bad with the fact that humans have an inborn drive to continue existing, and that death has profoundly negative effects that induce unnecessary suffering. If Jeff Bezos was your son and he was afflicted with a terminal disease, you'd have a very different outlook on his potential death, no matter what views you held at a high level societal perspective.
    - 3pt14159 9y ago
      Ultimately, we should just have a redistributive, progressive wealth tax with a basic income and optional state provision of staples like Healthcare. It's the only longterm stable system that sets incentives correctly. We should also completely ban negative things that cause feedback loops, like high net worth individuals subverting the political process via money. But if Steve Jobs clone 2.0 is 400 years old and still turning over his $200b at 10% per year, and 9% of that is getting redistributed while the average person is generating 1% then that's still ultimately better for humanity. The reason it needs to be a progressive wealth tax is to limit power accumulation.
      - eloff 9y ago
        That is part of the solution, but you're dreaming if you think you can tax people at 90% and expect them to continue to produce. I've packed up and relocated for less. I've also turned down work that I otherwise would have accepted, just because I know the government will take half. There would have been no Steve Jobs (at least not in the US) at 90% marginal tax rates.
yesbabyyes 9y ago
He fooled Death, staved off it's dance it beat him yet, Longinus' Lance now the bet is in our hands perhaps we'll get another chance: Wise for ever, still funny now The party's on the day of Tau He chose a funny day to die A perfect day: the day of Pi.
- forgetfuldino 9y ago
  14/03/2018?
  - CosmicShadow 9y ago
    depends on how you do your date formats, march 14, 3.14.
  - croon 9y ago
    > Combined date and time in UTC: 2018-03 14T12:33:18+00:00 > 2018-03-14T12:33:18Z > 20180314T123318Z https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601
  - ASalazarMX 9y ago
    YYYY-03-14
  - odonnellryan 9y ago
    Since there is no 03/14/2018 in that format, yes. :)
- ealhad 9y ago
  https://tauday.com/tau-manifesto https://tauday.com/tau-manifesto
- state_less 9y ago
  "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee." -John Donne I'll miss him and his wonderful stories of the cosmos.
komali2 9y ago
I like to entertain the (not-serious) fantasy that people actually did show up to his party, but Hawking didn't tell anyone because sci-fi reasons.
luckydude 9y ago
That was hard to read, your love for the man is so clear. Good luck in your goal to accomplish what you can.

TaylorAlexander 9y ago

It was both Professor Hawking and Carl Sagan that tought me how brief and unlikely our lives truly are. It was their cosmic perspective that helped me end my fear of death. While we want more time and see the death of others as tragic, I do feel less afraid of that time coming knowing how fortunate I have been to live.

jsolson 9y ago
Interesting. I would like to attribute my desire to live "forever", at least to some extent, to cosmic perspective. One day the universe might make me bored, but today is not that day, and I suspect tomorrow isn't either. I don't ever expect that day to come, but if I thought it was near I'd be very afraid indeed.
- fhayde 9y ago
  I think a good way to say it might be: I'm not afraid of death, I'm afraid of not existing.
  - jsolson 9y ago
    Yes, but given today's technology (and my lack of faith in a suitable deity), I do not have confidence in continuity after corporeal death.
  - mikekchar 9y ago
    I do not fear non-existence. For most of the history of the universe, I did not exist. I have considerable experience with that. Dying appears to be unpleasant, though.
    - unclebucknasty 9y ago
      Well, you existed. You just were not assembled in quite the same manner.
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
      - lozf 9y ago
        Like Lego; you build something and play a while... then all the pieces go back in the box 'til next time.
    - latexr 9y ago
      In the context of your existing self, non-existing before and after existing are quite different thoughts. The first one is like you don’t remember it, like you don’t remember a lot in your life that you know happened. With the second one you’ll never have the experience of feeling you don’t remember it and you know that. It’s akin to the difference between one day you realising you forgot most of your life, and you now discovering you have Alzheimer’s and will never again hold a moment in memory. To your present self the former is not scary, but the latter is. > For most of the history of the universe, I did not exist. I have considerable experience with that. On the contrary, you have zero experience with not existing because experience implies an impression was made, even if you don’t consciously realise it. Not existing has made (and will make) no difference to you whatsoever, and as such provides no experience, preparation, or comfort. It is the thought of not existing that makes a difference. It won’t by the time I don’t exist, but it does now. --- As a side note, if someone can recommend some good philosophy books on this, I’d appreciate it. I thought the branch that studies it might’ve been ontology, but I’ve read a bit of Sartre’s Being and Nothingness and realised what he’s talking about it not exactly what I’m looking for.
- simonh 9y ago
  I would like to live indefinitely, but I do not want to. The cost to human society and our natural resources of a species of immortals is too much. I want human society to include births, children, growing up, dating, marriage and raising families. I want my children and our species generally to have a dynamic, continuously renewing culture. I just don’t see how those things are compatible with immortality. Just don’t see how I can weigh personal immortality against the lives of perhaps millions of people that could live in my place, choose myself over them and maintain any sort of moral credibility.
  - whatshisface 9y ago
    If you're immortal, then the "climb on a starship for 1000 years" deal starts looking a lot better. That would open up a lot of new resources to turn in to living people with lives to experience. (P.S. we're not anywhere near close to using our current resources completely or efficiently, so please stick around and help us get a little closer!)
    - jcadam 9y ago
      Your starship would have to be something similar to Rama[1] for me to even consider it. A thousand years on anything similar to an upscaled contemporary spacecraft sounds like torture. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendezvous_with_Rama https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendezvous_with_Rama
      - justinclift 9y ago
        Well, there's the "suspended animation" possibility thing too. eg "Wake me up when we get there, or if anything interesting/important comes up on the way."
  - latexr 9y ago
    None of that precludes the case in which you’re the one immortal in existence, and you are immortal by chance and not choice[1]. And you could live in a way that has zero impact on the natural resources of the planet[2], or even a positive one. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_from_Earth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_from_Earth [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Impact_Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Impact_Man
- herbstein 9y ago
  Very well said. Really like the way you framed it.
- eloff 9y ago
  Right now the only thing that somewhat limits the accumulation of wealth by the wealthiest in our society is that they eventually die. Even if they pass it on to their offspring, those offspring are often ill-equipped to run their parent's business empire. Eventually the dynastic wealth fades away and others can take their place. If people could live forever there would be no limits on how much wealth individuals could concentrate in their hands. It would be like the meths in Altered Carbon. I don't want to live in a world where Jeff Bezos possesses more wealth than the bottom 90% of the planet. Our laws and economic system currently lead to extreme inequality. That would have to seriously change to allow for immortality.
  - Omnus 9y ago
    Sure, but you have to balance the potential bad with the fact that humans have an inborn drive to continue existing, and that death has profoundly negative effects that induce unnecessary suffering. If Jeff Bezos was your son and he was afflicted with a terminal disease, you'd have a very different outlook on his potential death, no matter what views you held at a high level societal perspective.
  - 3pt14159 9y ago
    Ultimately, we should just have a redistributive, progressive wealth tax with a basic income and optional state provision of staples like Healthcare. It's the only longterm stable system that sets incentives correctly. We should also completely ban negative things that cause feedback loops, like high net worth individuals subverting the political process via money. But if Steve Jobs clone 2.0 is 400 years old and still turning over his $200b at 10% per year, and 9% of that is getting redistributed while the average person is generating 1% then that's still ultimately better for humanity. The reason it needs to be a progressive wealth tax is to limit power accumulation.
    - eloff 9y ago
      That is part of the solution, but you're dreaming if you think you can tax people at 90% and expect them to continue to produce. I've packed up and relocated for less. I've also turned down work that I otherwise would have accepted, just because I know the government will take half. There would have been no Steve Jobs (at least not in the US) at 90% marginal tax rates.

yesbabyyes 9y ago

He fooled Death, staved off it's dance it beat him yet, Longinus' Lance now the bet is in our hands perhaps we'll get another chance: Wise for ever, still funny now The party's on the day of Tau He chose a funny day to die A perfect day: the day of Pi.

forgetfuldino 9y ago
14/03/2018?
- CosmicShadow 9y ago
  depends on how you do your date formats, march 14, 3.14.
- croon 9y ago
  > Combined date and time in UTC: 2018-03 14T12:33:18+00:00 > 2018-03-14T12:33:18Z > 20180314T123318Z https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601
- ASalazarMX 9y ago
  YYYY-03-14
- odonnellryan 9y ago
  Since there is no 03/14/2018 in that format, yes. :)
ealhad 9y ago
https://tauday.com/tau-manifesto https://tauday.com/tau-manifesto
state_less 9y ago
"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee." -John Donne I'll miss him and his wonderful stories of the cosmos.

komali2 9y ago

I like to entertain the (not-serious) fantasy that people actually did show up to his party, but Hawking didn't tell anyone because sci-fi reasons.

luckydude 9y ago

That was hard to read, your love for the man is so clear. Good luck in your goal to accomplish what you can.